Some wealthy Bangkok residents have bragged on social media about buying vaccination cards from the city’s most desperate residents.
People in Khlong Toey slum in Bangkok (Thailand). Photo: Bangkok Post
When “super VIP” (VVIP) customers entered the Krystal Exclusive Club, young women wearing crowns and angel wings quickly rushed out to greet them. These customers are taken to the VVIP room, which is filled with luxurious furniture. Krystal’s customers are rich people, Thai officials or business owners. For this class, the COVID-19 prevention restrictions seem to make no sense. But earlier this year, Krystal and another nightclub in the vicinity, Emerald, became the largest and deadliest outbreak in Thailand, according to Health Ministry officials. Many people related to these two nightclubs have contracted the disease, including those from the upper class. The health authority said that while the majority of Thais strictly adhere to the regulation of wearing masks and restricting gatherings, the privilege of being granted to the elites has caused the COVID-19 epidemic to re-emerge in Bangkok. . The nightclub cluster also highlights class distinctions in one of the countries with the largest wealth gap between major economies. Thailand is one of the countries with a huge gap between rich and poor. In the photo, the Khlong Toey slum is located below the tall buildings. Photo: Bangkok Post Thailand has gone many months without a case in the community. But now, the disease has spread from luxury nightclubs, which cater to powerful and wealthy men, to the slums adjacent to highways and railways in Bangkok. In these cramped areas, keeping your distance is nearly impossible. The wave of the disease has also spread to prisons, construction sites and factories. Sittichat Angkhasittisiri, head of a community in the capital’s largest slum – Khlong Toey, said bitterly: “The rich party, and the poor suffer the consequences.” There is no way the epidemic wave has penetrated Khlong Toey yet. But according to Mr. Sittichat, a man living in Khlong Toey met a friend who had attended a party at the Krystal outbreak. After feeling unwell, the man quarantined himself in his car because he had nowhere else to go. But he was able to infect three other people, causing the disease to spread in the slums where thousands of people lived. “Officials say quarantine is necessary, but that is with the rich. Our house is too small to be isolated,” Sittichat said. A boy in Khlong Toey carries a backpack to an ambulance. Photo: Bangkok Post Before November 2020, the total number of COVID-19 cases in Thailand was less than 5,000. But by the end of May 2021, Thailand recorded more than 5,800 new cases of COVID-19 in just one day. The total number of cases currently in Thailand is about 175,000 cases. “Gone are the days when the World Health Organization (WHO) praised Thailand for its campaign against COVID-19,” the newspaper said. Bangkok Post write. The resurgence of COVID-19 in Thailand is part of an epidemic wave sweeping through Southeast Asia. Thailand mainly relies on locally produced AstraZeneca vaccines. The company that makes AstraZeneca has never made a vaccine before. The “phuyai”, known as the “elite” in Thailand, can travel abroad to get vaccinated. The Russian vaccine tour costing 220,000 baht (equivalent to nearly 150 million VND) in Thailand has been fully booked until July. Meanwhile, poorer people are struggling with the epidemic. Many people have to wait to be treated in government makeshift hospitals. Mutita Thongsopa, a dairy company employee who came to Bangkok to support her family, said: “Society is very, very unequal. The phuyai destroyed the anti-COVID-19 campaign, and we, the little ones, we can’t live.” On April 27, Mutita’s older sister, Supatra Thongsopa, a 40-year-old grocery worker, arrived at the government testing center at 3am to line up. Supatra waited that whole day, then two more days later. While waiting, Supatra texted her sister complaining of fatigue and stomach problems. On May 1, Supatra was tested. The result was positive, and she died five days later. Supatra’s boyfriend, who also has COVID-19, is still being treated in the hospital. “They die like autumn leaves,” says Mutita. Although a Bangkok court sentenced the managers of two nightclubs Krystal and Emerald to two months in prison for violating epidemic prevention regulations, so far no one else has been held responsible for the epidemic. outbreak again in Thailand. Although considered poor, the people of Khlong Toey slum are an important labor force in Bangkok. They are delivery people, delivering food. Their motorbikes crept past the Mercedes lined up on the road. They are construction workers of luxury apartment buildings and commercial centers. Their market provides Bangkok with fresh vegetables, fruits and seafood. Unemployment, already high due to Thailand’s border closure, has skyrocketed in Khlong Toey. To survive, some families have had to sell vaccination cards they received as residents of high-risk areas. Some wealthy Bangkok residents have bragged on social media about buying vaccination cards from the city’s most desperate residents. Thailand today, June 7, started an expanded vaccination campaign Less than 2% of the country’s population has been vaccinated with two doses.
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